Appendix A
DeBaillon Medal Winners

Appendix B
Important Collected Louisiana Irises

NOTES

1 In the early 1980s, a major American mail order nursery offered a collection of Louisiana irises under the name "American Irises." This caused an uproar in the iris world, and after much protest, the usurper name was cast aside. See Allen Lacy, Home Ground: A Gardener's Miscellany. New York: Ballentine Books, 1984, pp. 48-49.

2 In the 1930s Frank Chowning, a well known lawyer in Little Rock, Arkansas, discovered a beautiful clear yellow I. fulva near the small east Arkansas town of Marvell, which he continued to grow and distribute for the remainder of his long life. In 1991, Dr. James Waddick registered the iris and named it 'Marvell Gold.' The name Marvell is pronounced MAR-vel, as in "marble."

3 Addisonia, Vol. 14 (1929), pp. 1-13.

4 For a scientific analysis of I. nelsonii, see M. L. Arnold, J. L. Hamrick, and B. D.

Bennett, "Allozyme Variation in Louisiana Irises: A Test for Introgression and Hybrid Speciation." Heredity, Vol. 65 (1990), pp. 297-306, and Arnold, "Iris Nelsonii (Iridaceae): Origin and Genetic Composition of a Homoploid Hybrid Species." American Journal of Botany, Vol. 80, No. 5 (1993), pp. 577-583.

5 See Charles Fritchie, Jr. and J. Farron Campbell, Louisiana Iris Cultivars. Lafayette: Society for Louisiana Irises, 1990, pp. 25, 29.

Anniversary Publication of the Society for Louisiana Irises, 1941-1991. Lafayette: Society for Louisiana Irises, 1991. This publication includes full color reproductions of the paintings used in Addisonia.

7 Addisonia, Vol. 12, No. 1, (March 1927), pp. 1-2.

8 In a vigorously worded treatise, Viosca concluded that Small's species types were actually naturally occurring variations within existing species. Small was guilty, according to Viosca, of trying to bestow species status on "a profusion of closely related plants in a limited area with infinitesimal differences not readily classifiable, presenting phenomena not repeat[able]...." Viosca recognized a mere four species, with Small credited only for I. giganticaerulea. See Percy Viosca, Jr., "The Irises of Southeastern Louisiana: A Taxonomic and Ecological Interpretation." AIS Bulletin, No. 57 (April 1935), pp. 3-56; Philip W. Ogilvie "Louisiana Iris: A Literature Review," in James W. Waddick, ed., Gardening with Iris Species: Proceedings of an International Symposium. St. Louis: The Symposium, 1995, p. 91.

9 Mertzweiller in Marie Caillet and Joseph K. Mertzweiller, eds., The Louisiana Iris: The History and Culture of Five Native American Species and Their Hybrids. Lafayette, La.: Society for Louisiana Irises, 1988, p. 51.

10 Even from these early years a wide geographic area was represented among the collectors and growers. Little Rock, Arkansas was the home of the pioneering Frank Chowning; T. A. Williams was a collector in Nashville, Tennessee; and eastern Texas was well represented. However, it was the city of Shreveport, in the piney woods of north Louisiana, where by the late 1930s acres of collected Louisiana irises were growing. William Fitzhugh was selling them from his Shreveport nursery as early as 1939, and he was one of many collectors in that area. Caillet and Mertzweiller, The Louisiana Iris, pp. 51-67.

11 See untitled memoir by W. B. MacMillan in the MacMillan Papers, Collection 88, file 88-5-16, Southwestern Archives and Manuscript Collections, University of Louisiana at Lafayette, Lafayette, Louisiana, USA. [Hereinafter cited as "Southwestern Archives."]

12 W. B. MacMillan fondly recalled the people who took such a profound interest in native irises: Claude Davis and Joe Richard, both of Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge; Minnie Colquitt, Sally Smith, Ruth Dorman, Lenora Mathews, Lillian Hall Trichel, Ruth Shehee, Claire Gorton, Hattie Clark, and others from the Shreveport area; Caroline Dorman of Briarwood near Saline, Sidney and Inez Conger at Arcadia, George Arceneaux of Houma, Hazel and Asbury Parks of Houston, Texas, G. W. Holleyman of Lake Charles; Charles and Joyce Arny of Lafayette, and "those lady professors" at U.S.L., Marie Caillet and Tressie Cook. Ibid.

13 Ibid.

14 "To all Members and Prospective Members," from President W. B. MacMillan, Society for Louisiana Irises Records, Collection 66, File 63-1-5, Southwestern Collection.

15 The excitement of entering swamps afoot or in boats is profound enough that even botanists, nay, even geneticists, can dare to write so movingly of field work in the swamps of Vermilion Parish. Here's how Professor Michael L. Arnold wrote of his efforts to locate modern remnants of I. nelsonii: "Southern Louisiana is a beautifully mysterious place. The bald cypress trees adorned with gray-green strands of Spanish moss strike the senses with a feeling of antiquity. This feeling is heightened by the ever-present alligator.... The dew wetted our waders [waterproof clothing covering the body up to the chest] as we pushed our way through the vegetation border that marked the entry into the swamp.... When the dense plant life was finally penetrated[,] we broke through into the now-familiar environs dominated by the bald cypress...we had finally located our quarry. There stood iris flower stalks that were over one meter in height, crowned with flowers...." See Arnold in Marie Caillet and Joseph K. Mertzweiller, Special Publication of the Society for Louisiana Irises. Lafayette, La.: Society for Louisiana Irises, 1995, pp. 16-23.

16 Daily Iberian, April 21, 1947, clipping in SLI Records, Collection 63, file 63-1-3, Southwestern Collection. 'Jolie Blon' is the spelling of this cultivar registered by Edgar A. Arceneaux in 1947.

17 Early convention programs, newspaper clippings, and correspondence can be found in the SLI Records, Collection 63, especially files 63-1-3 and 63-1-5, Southwestern Collection.

18 Mrs. Roy J. Cornay to Geddes Douglas, Nashville, Tenn., March 6, 1946, in SLI Records, Collection 63, file 63-1-3, Southwestern Collection. Caillet and Mertzweiller, The Louisiana Iris, p. 59. Another stalwart of SLI is Miss Marie Caillet, a charter member who continues as she nears the end of her eighth decade to play a leading role in the organization. She is the lead editor of the recently published book on Louisiana irises and her garden near Dallas, Texas is a showplace for beardless irises.

19 President Hamilton Robertson to Robert L. Mouton, Lafayette, La. [May 1947], in SLI Records, Collection 63, file 63-1-1, Southwestern Collection.

20 Untitled MacMillan memoir, MacMillan Papers, Collection 88, file 88-5-16, Southwestern Collection.

21 Mertzweiller in Caillet and Mertzweiller, The Louisiana Iris,, p. 59

22 Viosca, "The Irises of Southeastern Louisiana," p. 54.

23 Indeed, most people are appalled to discover exactly what 'Creole Canary' (Granger R76) looks like, and why anyone would even think of introducing it onto an unsuspecting public where it could be seen by innocent children and the susceptible elderly. Hybridizer Marvin Granger, a magnificent and warm Cajun gentleman, is so nice that one must forgive him this momentary lapse.

24 'Easter Tide' was registered in 1979; 'Dixie Deb' in 1950.

25 Miss Caroline Dorman was one of the premier female naturalists of the twentieth century American South. Her estate, Briarwood, is now a nature preserve. She wrote several books, and is the subject of a biography: Fran H. Johnson, The Gift of Wild Things: the Life of Caroline Dormon. Lafayette: Center for Louisiana Studies, University of Southwest Louisiana, 1990.

26 Much of the data on hybridizers is taken from Caillet and Mertzweiller, The Louisiana Iris, pp. 87-105.

27 Mertzweiller chronicled his tetraploidy crusade in many articles in the SLI Newsletter. A brief summary may be found in Caillet and Mertzweiller, The Louisiana Iris,, pp. 84-85.

28 Toward the end of his long effort on behalf of tetraploidy Mertzweiller seemed to give up hope. It is ironic and sad that this brilliant and persistent man will probably be best recognized for a diploid iris, the radiant 'Cajun Sunrise.' However, his tetraploids 'Professor Jim' and 'Professor Neil' have both won DeBaillon Medals.

29 Sam Rix to Ira S. Nelson, October 29, 1952, in Ira S. Nelson Papers, Collection 29, file 29-2-13, Southwestern Collection; Sam Rix to Miss Aline Arcenaux, August 11, 1954, in SLI Records, Collection 63, file 63-1-17, Southwestern Collection. Marie Caillet, "The 1965 Mary Swords DeBaillon Award," SLI Newsletter, No. 43 (March 1966), pp. 7-9. For a time Rix also sold Louisiana irises on the retail market. See New Zealand iris Society Bulletin No. 27 (September 1958), p. 35.

30 Marie Caillet, et. al, eds., The Louisiana Iris: The Taming of a Native American Wildflower. Portland: Timber Press, 2000.